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Are you yearning to get your foot in the door at a fledgling
startup but lack the technical expertise because you didn't start
writing code at the age of five? Well, there’s no need to fret.
Startups need to grow their businesses through sales, which just
might be the right place for you.

The question becomes, how do you make yourself attractive to that
shiny new startup? What are they looking for in a new hire that
might be different than a larger company? Let’s dig a bit deeper.

We know that startup founders have an incredibly high risk
tolerance, hence the decision to leave their day jobs, cushy
salaries and car allowances to start a company, work around the
clock and nearly starve for at least two years. This ideal,
however, isn’t consistent when it comes to hiring personnel,
because they can’t afford to take a serious risk.

The difficulty is that the startup isn’t generating any
substantial revenue and is more than likely scraping by on the
cash they have left, putting the money that is spent on new hires
at extreme risk. The startup founder mitigates this risk by being
extremely diligent in ensuring that a potential hire is as good a
fit as possible.

A larger company that is generating more substantial revenues can
afford to make a mistake with a new hire. If they end up being
the wrong fit, it’s not nearly as big of a deal from a financial
standpoint.

The interview. When interviewing for a larger
company, you’ll tend to get questions that more revolve around
your resume, experience and personality test-like questions that
force you to compare yourself to an off-the-wall mythical figure.
The startup interview will be much more personal -- it has to be.
The founder needs to know who you are as a person and will be
much less interested in your college GPA or how many awards you
received at your previous corporate gig.

You can expect to get asked about your upbringing and family
life, as these play an enormous role in whom you are now as an
adult, as well as your work history -- although not necessarily
about where you’ve worked but about how long have you been
working.

If you’ve been working since you were legally allowed, great, but
if you didn’t get your first job until you were 22 years old and
have lived off of an allowance from your parents, you’d better
come up with a pretty good explanation as to how you appreciate
the difficulty that comes with hard work and making money.

Your presentation counts. If you really want the
job at the startup, you’ll need to show that you are a
self-starter that is motivated and capable of solving your own
problems. Both small and large problems occur seemingly by the
minute in a startup, and there’s nothing worse than someone who
is only capable of identifying problems and relies on someone
else to fix them.

It’s also important to illustrate your dedication to the company
and it’s long-term vision. As I mentioned before, it’s extremely
risky for the company to hire you at such an early stage in its
growth. The founder needs to be absolutely certain that you have
what it takes to stick it out through what is not always going to
be easy times.

You also need to be sure that you’re the right fit. If you are,
get ready for the ride of your life.